A lesson well learnt.....

An immense apology to my blog wall and its readers for the galactic delay in my subsequent post. Well, just lying around did take up a majority of my time. Its like after two neck wrecking semesters and two internships, finding sometime just to allow an absolute nothing to process was something akin to finding kryptonite.
Its wasn't until a week ago that I realized that I shall soon be returning to my sweetheart campus to get re-drilled yet again, not that I am complaining. So, having had enough of nothing-to-do time, I thought to let my keyboard feel the touch of fingers which till now must have been a dream that everyone dreams to achieve.
Well, this incident-cum-lesson-for-life is one of the many smithereens of events I witnessed long back during my schooling from one of the teachers to whom I will always be the closest to.
I did my schooling at Loyola School, Bhubaneswar. Having seeked admission in 2001 into the senior-most batch (i.e class V. It opened at class 5 and with every year had its senior most batch upgraded to the next); like any other soul in my class, adulterated emotions of trepidation and excitement resided in my heart. During the years, lots of stuff followed me. The teenage term of over-smart did suit me well. I think I was definitely a bit of it. I tried to be good at everything. But what I was not realizing that with every triumph as an individual, I lost the credibility of one of my classmates in me. I wouldn't say lonely would be suitable to me, because I had learnt to see happiness in the silliest of things-be it a dog pooping on the road or a man sitting in a waiting hall with his finger up his nostril with full confidence that he is the proud possessor of the invisibility watch in the Bollywood flick Mr. India. But trust me guys, there is no joy comparable to that of human companionship. I finally accepted the fact that I was the class's nomad.
Well, before my boards I was in a state of complete emotional breakdown. I was well ostracized by peers, and I would definitely say, for a justified reason. Till then marks were never a huge concern for me. But slowly I did realize that, my worst performance might stand u and face me as my ICSE grade sheet. I had lost self-confidence and was surviving a day just for the sake of it. Enter Mrs. Sanghamitra Kar.
Sanghamitra Ma'am was my class teacher during my tenth. One day she called me to the staff room, and with a genuine concern in her voice, asked me "So how are you doing Pranit?" It was the first time in months someone asked me that question. I just poured out. And like a patient mentor, she listened...
After I was done, I could feel my cheeks wet. But that was the least of my concerns. My heart felt like it could have flown in mid air, having given out a huge burden. The room was silent for a minute, when Ma'am broke the ice.
"While it takes time to build perceptions, it takes even longer for perceptions to change." That made my day.
I was dumbfounded by this statement. Realizing how true the statement was, I went back to my classroom, perplexed. That day, I learnt something really valuable. In our system of education, we need to be sensitive to feedback and work to correct ourselves, but we should not expect people to change what they think of us overnight. This should not cause us to lose spirit. Negative public opinion is not only the basis of a true democracy, but also the basic reason for improvement..a development in oneself to achieve an insurmountable height of the never-achieved abstraction called perfection. It always has some basis, maybe be professional or personal. Its our responsibility to inculcate within us the grace to accept it which ever way it is put forth in front of us.
Thank you ma'am for framing such an important part of me......

-Sarthak Pranit